


Douleur á Deux

by Arielslion



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Other, PURE FRIENDSHIP AND ANGST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7254004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arielslion/pseuds/Arielslion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emily is waiting for someone to join her in the room, but doesn't expect it to be her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Douleur á Deux

Emily sat forward in the hard plastic chair, balancing her head in her hands. Her wide eyes were fixed on the ground as she felt her mind whir. Process. Think. 

She had hoped to God that Sam and Mike would get out of the cabin and join her outside for dawn to break. Hearing those things screech as they crashed around inside the cabin and hurling themselves at one another in the darkness did nothing to calm her hands, shaking from more than the cold. She’d seen one kill Ashley right there, pressed its gross, disgusting claws down into the soft flesh of her eyes as she screamed out. Emily almost threw up when she saw it happen, but as awful as it may sound her sympathy for the brunette had decreased significantly after she had devoutly stood on the ‘kill Emily’ side of the gun. 

The black haired woman’s eyes narrowed as she recalled the memory. Nobody had stood by her then but Sam, and even then she hadn’t exactly martyred herself for Emily. Chris has cowered in a corner nursing his poor little ankle and Mike-

Well, Emily knew fine well what Mike was doing. Pointing the damn gun right up in her face as if she was one of those monsters. It wasn’t like they had been together or anything, not like he’d left her for her own fucking best friend or anything! No, Emily was an expendable asset that no-one at that ‘party’ actually appreciated for what logic she could give.  
A twinge of pain shot up through Emily’s collarbone area and she winced, lifting her hand up to the hastily bandaged area. The rescue team mustn’t have taken her seriously when she managed to contact them because all that was with them when they arrived was a measly first-aid box. Though despite the size, Emily had been more than grateful to see the white cross against the green background. Nothing could be done for her own ankle however, and she’d had to put up with leaning on people until she arrived at the station and finally got a crutch. 

A sigh escaped her lips. Emily pushed herself up straight in the chair, flexing her back to hear the satisfying sound of her bones cracking. The fact that no, it wasn’t actually the bones cracking, but liquid pockets popping under the pressure of the bones in her father’s voice, intruded her thoughts to correct her. She smiled weakly, the corners of her lips just barely lifting, at the memory. Emily always was told she had her mother’s looks and her father’s mind, and she prided herself on it.

What was barely a smile was quickly erased when she heard footsteps approaching the door of the windowless room she was in. She listened closely.

Two- no,- three people coming closer. The third’s steps sounded more like shuffling than actual footsteps, and the closer they came Emily realized that it was bare feet against the ground rather than the tough boots the rescue team and police sported. 

Her breath caught in her mouth. It was someone else, it just had to be. Why else would someone with no shoes be coming? Her mind raced as she tried to figure out who it could be, her eyes frozen at the door. She had found Matt’s shoe at some point during what was an endless night, was it him? Her heart thumped against her chest. It had to be. They’d found Matt! They’d found him and she wasn’t alone.

The footsteps and shuffling halted outside the floor and the handle turned. Even if he was injured beyond belief, he fell a pretty far fucking height after all, Emily was relieved that Matt was at least ali-

Jessica.

It’s Jessica. 

It’s Jessica and she looks like she’s been through Hell and back. 

It’s not Matt. 

Emily’s mind freezes while her emotions battle against each other for first dibs on how she reacts. She wants to scream and yell about why, out of all people, it’s freaking Jessica who walks up into the room alive and well while everyone else is probably dead or dying out in the cold alone and scared. She wants to give up, to let her body go limp and just give up there on the floor and let the rest of the world go on without her.

While those two parts of her are tearing at each other, a small part of Emily buries its way up from deep down beneath her. She wants to cry. Emily wants to run on her shitty ankle up to Jess, wrap her arms around her ex-best friend’s scarred body, and cry into her shoulder. 

And that’s what happens. 

Despite Jess flinching she lets Emily near throw herself on her, tears spilling out of her dark brown eyes and carrying what’s left of her mascara down her cheeks and onto the big brown jacket that’s around Jess’ shoulders. Emily blubbers and howls, hating how weak and vulnerable she must look in the moment but simultaneously not caring enough to do anything about it. 

They’re alive. She and Jess are alive.

Oh God. They’re the only ones, aren't they?

Jess is experiencing the freeze that Emily had not a second earlier. It takes the blonde longer for her brain to kick in past the shock of Emily’s reaction, and she slowly raises an arm and gently places it on Emily’s back. 

“Em...?” Jess mumbles weakly, and Emily chokes on her tears. Fuck, she sounds so... broken. So out of it. It’s a fucking miracle she’s still standing. Emily’s eyes snap open and she steps away quickly, realizing that she’s probably been putting too much weight on her. The faraway look in Jess’ eyes felt like an ice pick in Emily’s heart. Those eyes are meant to be the bright, burning blue they always are. The same blue they were when she and Emily were having their stupid catfight in the cabin. 

Swallowing, Emily points at the seat closest to the door. “Sit down, Jess.” She says, firm and clear. Jess blinks and nods slightly as she turns and limps tot he chair. Emily wipes her cheeks with her jacket sleeve as she watches her living, laughing friend turn and have to slowly lower herself down onto the chair. 

Jess pulls the far too big jacket closer and she folds her arms. Emily turns to the policeman and rescuer, the judgmental and accusing look she’s used to finally returning to her eyes. “What? Are you gonna leave now or wait to give her some more of your top notch first aid?” Her head tilts in Jess’ direction as she speaks the last part, making it clear she wants to be alone with Jess. 

The two exchange a look before the policeman nods and they turn around, closing the door behind them. Emily huffs and turns to Jess, who hasn’t looked up. 

Emily looks at her... friend’s bare legs and feels a shiver travel up her toes to the ends of her hair. Grimacing at the feeling, she quickly strips off her fur-lined jacket, ignoring the sting of protest that comes from the bite in her arm, and walked the few steps over to Jess, kneeling down in front of her. Gently, Emily places the jacket across Jess’ scarred and scabbing legs. She glances down at her feet for less than a second before closing them and moving her head back up, but it was too late. The image of those pale feet, now muddied, bloodied and painfully blistered, was in her head. 

“Mike.” Emily hears Jess whisper. Her eyes narrow, but she tries to keep it to a minimum as she looks up.

“What?”

“Have you seen Mike?” Jess asks, her eyes unnervingly focused on Emily’s own. “Where is he?”

Oh Jesus Christ. She doesn’t know. Emily keeps eye contact with the dimmed blue while she figures out what to say. She didn’t want to lie to Jess since she’d end up finding out anyway, but at the same time...

She didn’t want to see those blues turn to steely gray. 

Involuntarily however, Emily bites her lip and gives it all away. Being best friends for years, despite the fact you break up due to a Mike mishap, means you’re given the blessed ability of finding physical queues when the other can’t-or won’t- talk. 

Jess’ face breaks minutely and Emily sees every crack. The light eyebrows twitching up in the middle, the eyes beginning to well, her lips quivering just before they become the smallest pout Emily’s ever seen Jess show. 

“Oh, Jess...” Emily says, her voice fixed into concern so that the pain she feels seeing Jess’ road to an unstoppable breakdown lay out slowly in front of her doesn’t seep through to Jess. She lightly lays her hand on top of Jess’ and gasps at the strength of the vicegrip Jess locks it into. 

“No... nonononoNOOO!” Jess screams, throwing her head back, eyes scrunched shut as the tears start falling. Emily pushes herself up with her good leg and swiftly places herself on the seat next to Jess, making sure not to tug on the joined hands she and Jess are holding each other with. She reaches her arm across Jess’ shoulders and pulls her had to her chest, breathing a sigh of relief when Jess doesn’t push away from her. The only time Emily had seen another person get like this was Josh, and when he had started to get weird she had always quickly left the room. He’d had Sam and Chris to help him out. 

But none of them were here now. Sam was nothing but a burnt up husk, the last she’d seen of Chris was a head when she had made her way back tot he cabin basement, and Josh was probably stuck down the mines with one of those things. 

She was snatched out of her thoughts by Jess slipping down to lean her head on Emily’s lap, her screams now willowing wails. Emily bit back her own emotions and held a strong facade for her friend. She started to stroke Jess’ head in what she hoped would be interpreted as comforting, and not trapping. 

“E-Em-mil-y-y!” Jess choked out. 

“I’m here, Jess, I’m here.” Emily replied, lowering her head down to Jess slightly. 

“Emilyyyyy...” Jess went on. “I-I’m s-s-sorryyy!”

Emily shook her head. “No, Jess, there’s nothing for you to apologize about.”

But Jess just burst out into another, long wail. Emily decided it would be best for her and Jess if she kept her mouth shut for now and offered physical comfort. 

She looked up from her sobbing friend and saw a poster on the wall. “Blackwoods Pines” it read, “the most beautiful mountain holidays the North could offer!”

Emily made a mental note to tear down that poster as soon as Jess was feeling better.

**Author's Note:**

> Rough timeline of events semi-prior to this:
> 
> Mike, Sam and Ashley were killed in the cabin (Sam and Ashley from the wendigo, Mike from the explosion), Matt died from falling down when he and Emily were facing off against the deer herd. Chris died in the mines from the wendigo and since Emily and co would have had to gone back to the basement the same way they came I'm guessing she would've seen his head.
> 
> Emily is picked up from the cabin in the helicopter and is taken to the police station, she gives the statement we see in the end credits and is then put in the separete waiting room. Jess is picked up later since she was far further away from the cabin when she came out the mines and had to walk through snow and rocky terrain. Jess then gives her statement and is brought to the room Emily is in. Ta-da!
> 
> Douleur á Deux is, of course, a play on "folie á deux". DáD translates to "Misery of Two", or a number of other synonyms, if that's what you'd like.


End file.
